Home > Puppets in Education
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Here is one of many articles The Creativity
Institute has reviewed and reprinted on nurturing and boosting
creativity in children. Among the articles you'll find on this
site are those that demonstrate the importance of creative environments
at early ages and the power of the right educational toys. This
article excplains the value of puppets as an educational toy.
Puppets in Education
by A Greensmith
Puppets are an aspect of our history and everyday
lives. From marionettes to the Muppets we see them on television,
on videos or in live performances. In their different forms they
appeal to both old and young alike, represent different customs
and traditions and are valuable educational tools. Puppets are
both entertaining and captivating. Children can believe and relate
to them; they can enter and explore the fascinating inventive
world that puppets create.
Learning through play is fundamental to our
children's education, helping them to develop the necessary skills
in life. Puppets can stimulate children's imagination, encourage
creative play and discovery and are a wonderful interactive way
to introduce narrative to even the most reluctant reader. They
can be a powerful way of bringing story time to life; puppets
can provide a focus for role play, encouraging the child's imagination
and involvement in activities and can play a fundamental part
in the recitation of stories and verse. In addition, hand puppets
with workable mouths and tongues are an excellent motivational
resource to inspire the teaching of phonics within literacy.
Any puppet can encourage the quietest of children
to start talking. Puppets can break down barriers and provide
an effective means to initiate communication. The child trusts
the puppet and doesn't feel threatened by it, making it a perfect
neutral medium through which they can discuss sensitive issues.
The child can express thoughts, fears and feelings through the
puppet that they might otherwise find difficult to voice to an
adult.
Puppets can assist children with special educational
needs. They can motivate and support children with difficulties
in communication and interaction. They can help to develop their
social and motor skills, and can meet the visual, tactile and
emotional needs of the individual child. Large human puppets with
glove hands and fingers can be used in conjunction with the different
varieties of signing, adding a further dimension in helping children
with both hearing difficulties and learning disabilities.
All puppets come to life as characters. They
can portray different personalities and various traits and they
cross all cultures. Puppets can share joy or sadness; they can
be naughty or good, cheeky or shy; and when a child is engaged
by a puppet they can learn lessons without even realising.
Puppets provide an essential link between learning
and play which makes them wonderful teaching tools for at home,
the classroom and in the wider community.
A. Greensmith
MORE ON CHILD CREATIVITY
Make
your child
more creative for life.
Every child has creative
ability just waiting to be tapped. Even infants have budding creative
potential. The right educational toys can bring it out. and let
children enjoy the benefits of creative pursuits at many levels.
Infants,
toddlers,
preschoolers,
early
school age and older
school age children all delight in opportunities for creative
expression through colors, shapes and sounds.
At The Creativity Institute, we handpick each infant educational
toy, every creative plaything, each piece of furniture and every
toy musical instrument based on its potential for developing vital
creative resources in your child.
Toy
pianos, oversized
foam building blocks, puppet
theaters and puppet stages and people
and animal hand puppets, art
supplies and children's
easels, play
tents and more. The scale and durability of many of these
toys make them perfect for classrooms, homeschool,
day care centers and waiting rooms, too. The benefits of nurturing
creativity can be profound, offering children tools for success
in all endeavors athletic, artistic or academic. Let your baby
begin now.
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